The Pros and Cons of Online Marketing Channels

As marketers, we all have a common goal of getting potential customers to our landing pages. From there we can entice them into giving us their contact information and begin taking them down our sales pipeline. However, there’s a myriad of ways we’re able to do this. Display advertising, email blasts, search engine optimization and marketing, and – you guessed it – social media.

All of these options demand resources, whether it’s time or money, usually both. You may be wondering if your advertising tactic is the best for your company, or what options may be better suited for your needs. Because of this, we’ve outlined the pros and cons for each.

Online Display Advertising

Pros

One word, visual. Even if someone doesn’t end up clicking on your display ad, they’re still getting an impression of your company. It’s a more modern add on to a TV or billboard promotion because it allows the viewer to click on it.

In that same vein, banner ads have adapted to not just being one static image. There’s incredible versatility in the way companies are able to present their brand through visuals.

Cons

Without putting resources into effective audience targeting, it’s very difficult to reach the demographics your company is searching for. Unlike social media where you’re able to tell who your audience is based on bio and conversational attributes, this freedom of information does not carry over to display advertising.

Unfortunately, despite the growing focus on including rich visuals in advertising, display seems to be becoming a thing of the past. There’s no way to you to post a display banner on Twitter and no social proofing or viral factor is built in. In HubSpot’s 10 Horrifying Stats About Display Advertising, it states “you are more likely to complete NAVY SEAL training than click a banner ad” and if that doesn’t sum up where display advertising is headed, we’re not sure what will.

Email

An age old and much loved technique to reach a large targeted audience usually through the purchasing of an email contact list.

Pros

Email allows you to have complete control over content. You can put as much or as little content as you want with the added bonus of adding video or imagery.

By using applications like MailChimp you’re able to track how successful each email campaign was through open rate, click-through rate, etc. Knowing this will help you optimize future campaigns. These analytics will also help tell you which email addresses are no longer active allowing you to keep your email list up to date.

Cons

How many of you open every email you receive from a mailing list you’re on? If you’re someone who does, I applaud you, but many of us just move the message immediately to the trashcan. Email has become saturated. So saturated, in fact, that many people just ignore emails that seem blatantly salesy and promotional. Because of this, it’s extremely difficult to consistently get your message out to customers that matter.

Similar to display advertising, social proof is not built in, and depending on where you’re getting your email list, there’s a risk that it may not be up to date.

Search Engine

Search engine optimization and marketing is a form of Internet marketing that promotes websites by helping to promote their visibility in search engine results. This is through paid and keyword advertising.

Pros

Unlike these previous forms of advertising, search engine is highly optimized. Someone has entered in a keyword that has described your product and is directly interested in what you have to offer.

Search is also the most popular medium for locating any and all information. This means that if your target customer is looking for a specific service or product you offer, you’re able to use paid advertising through search in order to reach them.

Cons

Search’s biggest pro (its ability to target) is also one of its biggest disadvantages for lesser-known companies. If someone doesn’t know what you offer, there’s a huge decrease in the possibility that they’ll be able to find you through search if they aren’t actively looking

SEM and SEO are expensive! You pay-per-click, which means that if you’re using a competitive keyword like ‘Social Media Marketing’ you’ll be paying a lot in order to remain relevant on search. SEO also takes a long time to spin up, which means you could be waiting a while to see your ROI.

Social Media Traffic

Social media traffic pertains to gaining traffic, attention, or a following through social media sites.

Pros

As we mentioned above, social media allows businesses to target a certain demographic. Unlike these other advertising methods, social proof and a viral factor is built in.

Promoting your brand successfully on social media can also be free, if you’re willing to put in the time. By using keywords to find your target audience, you’re able to curate relevant content, join in industry-related Twitter conversations, and engage with other professionals and target customers all in your sphere.

The relationships that are attainable on social media help businesses to craft more optimized and targeted campaigns in other areas of advertising due to the insight gained on these social mediums.

Cons

The real-time nature of social media, while one of its greatest qualities, can also be a hindrance for advertising. The endless updates and posts can easily distract your customer from your brands message. It’s hard to break through the noise and get your potential customer to focus on your what you’re selling.

Maintaining and growing a following on social media as a brand, that’s not already largely established, takes a pretty big time commitment. Posting regularly and engaging frequently is just part of what will bring you success on social media. If you’re not willing to put in the man-hours, it may be in your interest to look at search engine or email, where money can take care of time commitment.

However, Socedo addresses both of these issues. By bringing you the relevant messages from target customers based on bio and conversational keywords, Socedo is able to make sure you don’t miss out on the opportunity to find your ideal buyer persona. Worried about spending time on engagement? Socedo also takes care of that by automatically favoriting the relevant Tweet, and following that user. Socedo also offers automated direct message capabilities and in-depth analytics to help you track your success and improve upon your social media presence.

Long story short, if you’re willing to put in the time, social media prevails in providing the best lead generation, customer outreach, and brand development when it comes to advertising your company.